The Islamic State drops a small bomb from a modified drone in Raqqa province. The US-led coalition announced today that “three senior and highly skilled ISIS officials” were killed in airstrikes near Mayadin, Syria between Sept. 12 and 14. All three were “drone experts” responsible for weaponizing small drones, which the Islamic State has deployed throughout Iraq and Syria. Mayadin, a city on the Euphrates River in the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor, is a major hub for the so-called caliphate’s leadership. The group transferred key personnel to Mayadin and other locales along the Syrian-Iraqi border as it lost ground elsewhere. The US has conducted a targeted air campaign against senior Islamic State figures in and around Mayadin since earlier this year. The importance of the area to the Islamic State can be seen in the key roles played by the jihadists hunted down ...